The Rise and Decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth due to Grain Trade

In this paper I present the cause of the rise and decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main driving force was Polish grain trade over the Baltic. At the beginning, Polish grain was vital for Western Europe thus the Commonwealth was able to make significant profits and obtain economical growth. However, once the cultivation of grain was not any more profitable, the Commonwealth missed to adopt its economy to the new situation and fell behind. I present the main political and sociological background that caused this process and give some facts on the town structure that also played an important role.